Targets Of Death
by ArcadiaAllbright
Summary: Death brings people closer all the time, especially if death is a part of the job. Ariel Croft feels closer to her co-workers more every day, some more than others, and in the tale of her cases, she shows just what kind of danger she really faces. First Person P.O.V. C.S.I. Level 3. Reviews Enjoyed!
1. A Regular Four-Twenty

**DISCLAIMER: I own none of CSI, only the case they are working, the people in it and my own characters.**

**...**

Does anyone remember when I said "There is only a beginning and an end." I do, and sometimes, I'm wrong when it comes to things like that. Most things do have a middle but most people don't pay attention to details as others do.

This is the end to the middle of my story.

I woke up. That was it, I woke up. It was a nice bed, fluffed up pillows, smooth sheets. The only thing was that it wasn't my bed. Truthfully, I didn't know whose bed it was. I couldn't remember what happened last night and to remember that, I had to think back to the beginning. That was eight months ago.

(8 MONTHS PRIOR) :

"Have you ever seen a girl like that?" Warrick asked. He was in one of those moods where he just wanted to get a feel. He was rarely in those moods but this was one of those times.

"You know, you always ask me that." Nick said, laughing at him. "Too bad you can't just go get one of those girls." That had everyone laughing next. Nick and Warrick were walking through the halls behind the rest of us. In front of him was Catherine and I then Sara and Grissom walking in the front.

"You could always be a little nicer, you know?" Catherine stated, looking over her shoulder as she walked. "I'm sure if Warrick wanted to, he could get all the tail he needed." She laughed and continued walking with me.

We all went into our own conversations, Catherine talking to me about Lindsey. "She's getting good grades finally and she's really enjoying dance."

"Have you been to a lot of her shows?" I asked, she was so happy that Lindsey was finally starting to open up again.

"I'm going to as many as I can. Work is still pretty hectic when it comes to my social life but we're managing." She nodded to herself, being content with the way her work and home life are going together right now.

"That's good!" I smiled at her. I knew she needed the encouragement, as much as she didn't want to admit.

Grissom started to talk over all of us, letting us know our cases. "Sara and I are taking on the 419 on Charleston Boulevard." He turned and handed a slip of paper to me and Catherine. "I'm breaking up the groups today though, take the man behind you and take him to your scene." He turned and kept walking with Sara.

Cat and I took that time to look over the slips we got and traded. I gave her my hit-and-run and got her 420. She wanted an easy day and hers was probably not as much work as mine.

We didn't have to look behind us because we already knew who was where. Warrick walked up with her and they walked off together before Nick came up to me and took me by the waist, pulling me towards the door.

"What do we have today?" He asked me with a goofy smile on his face.

I laughed at him and handed him the paper. "I'm driving."

"You always drive." He sounded kind of sad. "Are we at least taking your car?"

"Do you think I'm going to wreck yours?"

"No, I just like your car. It may not be a work car but if we see some pretty ladies, maybe they'll think I've got some moves." He took the edges of his lab coat and fluffed them forward like he was trying to prove he's cool.

"Even if I'm the one driving?" I laughed when I saw he hadn't thought everything through. His face fell some but I knew he didn't mind, he liked my car. "If a girl asks, I'm telling her it's my hypothetical penis extender." He laughed and when we got to my car, he was so excited.

"I would kill for this car." It was my Ferrari F12berlinetta, a lot more money than I made on the occasion, but worth it.

"Please don't." I laughed and we got in, basically moving at an illegal speed limit for the area we were driving but sometimes, you can get away with it.

We made it to Northern Las Vegas in a record time and once we got out, we knew only half of what we were getting into this time. We walked out, after making sure my car was in a safe spot of course, and we were greeted by Sofia, "We have an ex-mobster, sitting in his own blood, gun in his hand and it looks like a suicide."

"But it's a 420. If it looks like a suicide, what makes you think it's a homicide?" Nick asked, putting his case on the ground next to the car the dead guy was sitting in, shining his light on his head.

"I guess the killer didn't expect anyone to see him murder." She turned and pointed to a girl on the side of the street, talking to another cop. Nick and I both looked at her, she seemed pretty scared so maybe she really did see something horrific.

"Well, there's only one way to find out what she saw, right?" I put my kit next to Nick's and took out my fingerprint ink. "I'm going to head over to the nice lady and see what she has to say." I smiled to Nick and he laughed and started talking to David about the body in the car.

"Hey, I'll take over here for a bit." The cop took his leave and the blonde in front of me was holding herself, arms wrapped around torso. "Excuse me, Hi, I'm Ariel Croft with the crime lab. Can you tell me what you saw?"

She seemed pretty on edge, probably some kind of drugs. She was stuttering and I couldn't really understand what she was saying. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

"M- MM- Marissa." I nodded at her, hopefully she would continue. She did, "There was some guy in the car with that man." She stopped talking in between every few words to keep from crying again. "They were yelling with each other and then the man walked out and when the driver stuck his head out of the window, he turned and shot him." She was hysterical now, basically screaming to me.

She jumped towards me, grabbing both of my arms, screaming to me that she was in danger now. I managed to get one arm away while keeping her at a distance with my other. I pulled my flashlight out and shined it in her eyes.

"Officer, you might want to take her to the station. She's on something." Two officers came over to try and get her off me since I wasn't necessarily allowed to use force with a civilian. They finally got her off and I walked back over to Nick.

"Are you okay?" He seemed concerned. That was the only problem working with Nick, we were both pretty emotional about the cases we got, even if it was something like this.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to see what she knew. I didn't get any DNA or prints but she's going back to the station so we can get it later." I shook my head, kind of like trying to shake off what just happened, even if it isn't that easy. "Did you get anything?"

"Nothing much, a couple of prints from the outside of the driver side door, some glass fragments from the window being broken." I stopped him.

"The window wasn't down?" I looked at him kind of confused before putting my light on it. The bottom of the window had some shards left, almost like it was punched in after being shot out. "I feel like our junkie has some more explaining to do." I looked at Nick and shrugged.

"We're going to get the body and car back to the lab then we can process the rest of the scene." I nodded to him and we waited for the car to be moved out. We went and sat down on a bench outside of the tape, watching the people move inside.

"Is that what we look like to people walking by?" I laughed, making fun of the other workers.

"They kind of look like scavengers. It's like they want to find something that we might miss." He shook his head and took his phone out.

"I doubt that. We are the best." He looked up at me and I winked at him. He laughed and put his head back down. "Did you get a girlfriend while I was away?" I left for a few weeks last month for a seminar on a new technology they were trying to come up with for DNA. It was bogus in my opinion.

"No, I'd never find someone when I have you." He laughed and shook his head. It was like an ongoing joke between us. "I'm just trying to find this picture I took last week. I think you might enjoy it." He started laughing and he handed me his phone. It was nice, something I would have bought for myself if I didn't just buy a new iPhone.

It was a picture of Greg. He was making a stupid face, but when put with where his hand was located and it just happened to look like he was wanking it to a couple of evidence vials. I laughed a lot harder than I needed to but it had been a long while since I had something to laugh at.

"What the hell is this?" I laughed again, Nick laughed a long with me this time. "Send that to me." He shook his head and sent it once I gave him the phone back. He knew I was probably going to use it as black mail but what other reason would he agree to send it for?

"What picture do I get in return?" He asked me, chuckling slightly at the thought of me sending him any kind of picture.

"How about this one?" I took my phone out, that new one I just mentioned, and pulled up a picture I had downloaded from an e-mail I received about a case I had before I left. It was a girl, a whole lot of chunky and long blonde hair.

"Is that you?" He looked confused, probably not the reaction I was expecting but it would play in my favor.

"Sure it is, back in my high school days when I had blonde hair." I laughed at the face he made next.

"LiLi (pronounced "Lee-Lee"), that's like child porn. I know you graduated at seventeen." He seemed mostly shocked and kind of offended.

I laughed at him again, "That's not me. It's some girl that sent this to her older -married- lover." He made a noise, kind of like 'ahh', and nodded his head. "You're an idiot for thinking that I'd even give you a picture show without you taking me for dinner first."

"That's a lame excuse, we go to dinner all the time." I laughed and shook my head at him.

"That doesn't count. It has to be intimate, sorry sweetie." The car was finally moved and I stood up and started to walk towards the scene. I moved the tape and let Nick underneath first before following.

"I'll circle around and you start from the middle, we can meet in between." He said to me, so I went to where the car was and I started to scan the ground for any evidence. The scene was a lot bigger than we had originally thought so it took a few hours to get it everything together but we made it back to the lab in one piece.

By the time we got back to look at the car, we had multiple pictures of blood, shoe prints and we had a couple hair strands and a swab of what looked like spit. Nick filled me in on the victim's name, Vinny Wallace, before taking the blood, swabs and hair to DNA.

I took that as my opportunity to see if I can find any reference to Vinny in the databases, mostly fingerprints, DNA and any personal information that we couldn't get from his driver's license before going out to the car with Nick to see what we could get from it.

I found a bank account number but I wouldn't be able to access it without permission. I left Archie to his work and I went on my way to see if Nick was still with Wendy. When I got there he had just finished giving her the evidence and he made his way out and wrapped his arm in mine and walked with me the other way.

"What's the rush? Plan a hot date with the pretty lady?" I laughed and he pinched my arm. That was kind of like his way of saying that I was being stupid. "Rude!"

"We're going to check out the dead body, my dear. I didn't think you'd wanna miss this." He laughed and walked ahead of me, leaving me to watch as he went away. It was a sight I would watch over and over again. He was one fine man.

**...**

_**I hope you would review and tell me what you like/dislike about the story. Any comments on things I should add and should disregard in later chapters are highly recommended. Being apart of the story is only a review away, Just a name, a description and a field of work in the lab/field and that can be arranged. Or even an idea for the story or any of its later cases. I appreciate the time you took to read this and I hope you have insight that you would kindly share with me. Enjoy!**_


	2. Getting Acquainted

**DISCLAIMER: I own none of CSI, only the case they are working, the people in it and my own characters.**

**...**

"Come on, LiLi, Doc said that this was something we'd never forget!" Nick laughed as he tried to usher me to hurry and follow. I hurried so I could catch up with him because as much as I liked walking behind to check him out, I liked seeing his face just as much.

We made our way to the morgue and walked in. Doc was examining his head, waiting for us.

"Oh good, I wanted to tell you my findings before stitching him back up." He waved us over to him. Nick and I walked to the other side and I was automatically confused.

"Why are you trying to stitch him up?" I was practically laughing, "He has no insides, Doc."

"I took notes about that but I wasn't the one who dissected him even though it's my job to do so." He started from the head and worked his way down. "Until tox comes back from the blood I got from his brain, we won't really know what killed him, but it wasn't that shot to the head."

I took a glove from his stash and put it on. I then took the blanket that covered him and lifted it up some. I made a disgusted face before looking at Doc. "Are you serious?"

"What?" Nick asked before leaning forward. "Oh my god! Where are his gonads!?" I let the sheet fall, I wasn't really wanting to see that, I was just curious.

"Well," Doc said, "My conclusion is that whatever killed him, has nothing to do with this gun shot to the head. Minimal bleeding around the entry and exit suggest his blood wasn't flowing when he was shot. Without his insides, it may be difficult to find out what really killed him."

"Thanks, if we find his insides, we'll bring them right to you." I said, laughing and making my way out of the morgue. I could hear Nick follow me out before he jogged up and wrapped his arm around my waist again. It didn't help that I was moving because he missed a little and basically smacked my ass.

"Hey, watch what you're smacking, buttercup." He laughed and put his hip to mine and started to sway me with him as we walked.

We went to the car and started to look inside. "I'll get the back, you get the front?" Nick asked.

"It sounds like you're trying to say something dirty to me, but that's okay. Maybe I like it." I winked at him, like I always do, and worked to the passenger side door and started to print the outside. There were several partials and smudges. I took the dust to the inside of the door on the handle and found a couple of full prints.

I found the bullet that went through Vinny's head, it had some blood, brain and skull on it, but no glass. "Tell me this, Nick, how does a bullet get shot into a man's head and a car window and have everything on it but glass?"

He stopped looking for a minute and had the look of thought on his face. "Maybe the window wasn't down. It could have been punched out at any time before this happened. Did Doc say anything about glass in the head?"

"I'll give him a quick call, see what he has to say." A few minutes later, off the phone, I let Nick know what Doc said. "He said there was glass in his head, but not in the bullet wound. He has several cuts along side his hairline. It probably happened when he was put in the car but if he was already dead, why drive him to another spot and how does a person just drive from the passenger side?"

"Do you want to go for a drive with me?" I looked at Nick and he was smiling. I knew what he was hoping to accomplish this time.

There was only the trunk left to look at so before we headed off, we wanted to check it out. Nick popped it open and all that was in there was one luggage carrier. I looked at him and he shrugged. I picked up the suitcase and laid it on the ground to open it. It was pretty heavy, I didn't think I would get it out of the trunk.

It was sure a sight to see. "How much do you think it is?" I asked Nick.

"At least $250,000. Let's go get Grissom and see what he says to do with this." Nick said and he started to get up but I stopped him. I might only be five feet tall and have incredibly short legs, but I was quicker than most people. Besides, we needed someone to guard this, preferably Nick.

"I got it, I'll be right back." He settled back down and I got up, walking as fast as I could without looking stupid. Grissom was in the middle of his own case but he was our supervisor and we didn't really know what to with this.

"Hey, Grissom, I hope you're not busy because Nick and I kind of need you for a minute or two." Grissom stopped walking with Sara and Greg and looked at me. He was obviously a little confused but he nodded and handed his file to Sara before walking away with me.

"What may I be of assistance with?" He asked me. We were already back to the car so all I did was point and he was on the ground, examining the luggage. "Call Brass, tell him that we need maybe four of his most trusting workers, get Archie to set surveillance up in the work room and count it out. We need to find out how much it is and where it came from."

Nick shut the suitcase then picked it up, "It's kind of heavy. Do you want to take it?" He started to lift it up towards me but I backed away. "Oh, right, you're a shortcake."

"Don't be a dick and take that to the work room." I shooed him to turn away and start walking, Grissom leading the way out. Nick was walking too slow for me so I whispered to him, "Do you need a push to get going?", before putting my hands on the small of his back and started to tickle him.

"You're being hands-y LiLi, someone might mistake that as affection." He snickered to me so I stopped moving him along, hoping he would walk a little faster. "Oh, don't be offended, you know I like a little touch every now and then."

"Is there something I should know about you two?" Grissom asked, turning his head toward us while he was leading us to the work room.

"No, he's just talking nonsense." I laughed, walking past Nick and up with Grissom. "Are you wanting us to stay and count with them?"

"I need at least one of you to supervise. The other can do follow-up on other evidence found." I looked back to Nick and smirked.

"Gris, if you don't mind, I think I want to take Greg on a little field trip." He looked at me and shrugged . I took that as a yes so I let Nick pass me and I smacked his ass before walking away, both of us laughing. I made it to Greg's lab and waited for him to turn his music off.

It wasn't as loud as it usually is but it was loud enough that I got to stand in the doorway and listen to Marilyn Manson for another two minutes before scaring Greg enough to turn it off. "Oh, sorry, have you been there long?" He asked, a little on edge that he thought he kept me waiting.

"Not really, just long enough to enjoy some music. Are you busy right now?" He shook his head and gave me that look. He knew I needed something and from the way he was looking, he was all ready for it. "Good, we're going for a drive." I smiled and he got up and took his jacket off, setting it on the back of his chair and followed me out.

I walked by the work room, Nick was still with Grissom while he called Brass. He looked up to me and I stuck my tongue out at him. He made a face and flicked me off. I gave him the best 'offended' face I could come up with but he knew I didn't mean it so he laughed.

I took Greg out to the parking lot, taking his car instead of my own this time. "Do you want to sit in the driver's seat or should I?" I asked him.

"Well, I do like driving." He smiled and started to walk to the driver's side.

"Then I suggest getting in on the passenger side." I smiled back at him and got in the seat. "Don't look so confused, Greg. You're going to be the one driving anyways." That was enough convincing to get him into the other seat. "Now, figure out how to get the car moving and take me for a drive." I smiled to him.

"I'll take you for a drive anytime." He smiled and I laughed at him.

"Don't be an idiot, and get the car started and moving." It took a minute to figure out the controls from the passenger seat but he got it. He managed to push my legs down hard enough to get the pedals pushed to get moving.

We got about ten blocks when Nick called me. "Hey, Ariel, we got a hit on those prints you found. They belong to a Maxwell Hall. He's a manager for about half of the people in Vegas and L.A. According to relatives, he's in Vegas for about another week working with an 'up-and-coming' before heading back home."

"Do you know where he is now?" I asked him. Greg and I parked on the side of the road so I could answer the call.

"He's at the MGM Hotel, should be working with his new project now." I could tell he was smiling from the way he was speaking.

"I'm only a few blocks away from there but I'm with Greg." I looked over to him and he seemed ready to go. "I'll keep him in the car and you can drive out and meet me there." Nick agreed to it and we hung up, getting ready to meet me out here.

I drove Greg and I out to the MGM hotel and we parked in the back. I hated leaving him in the back but I didn't want someone harassing him while I was inside. "I'll be back in thirty minutes or less. If I'm not back, go inside and have someone bring you to me." He nodded and I trusted him to do what I told him.

I got out and made my way around front. I got inside and found security. They escorted me to the back of the show room where the performance was going to be held later. I recognized the girl that was singing. She used to be a friend of mine. I knew she always wanted to be a singer but I never thought I'd see her out in Vegas.

She had just gotten off the stage when I walked up. She knew who I was right away. "O-M-G! Ariel Croft! I cannot believe you're here right now! Did you come out to dance on stage with me like old times?" She hugged me and I had to laugh at how enthusiastic she was.

"LiLi used to be a dancer?" I heard someone say from behind me. It had to be Nick, he was the only one who ever called me that. "I hope we aren't here to investigate you otherwise Ariel has to leave pretty quickly."

"It depends on who you're looking for." She said. "Oh, I'm Tiffany Simms by the way." She smiled and stuck her hand out which Nick took gladly. A little jealousy went through my body.

"Maxwell Hall." I said, trying to interrupt their handshake. She took her hand away decently quick, I think she picked up on my intention.

"He was here about five minutes ago. He's supposed to be getting me a coffee and he's usually back around this time." She looked around her and smiled. "Here he comes now."

A man holding a coffee in one hand and a phone in the other came walking up with his head down, "Hey, Tiffany, sweetie, here's your coffee. Play me another song and then we can get some drinks for me while we wait." He wasn't paying attention to either me or Nick, he just took the coffee and pushed it forward, hoping Tiffany would grab it.

She grabbed it but he looked up then when she didn't say anything. He saw me and Nick standing there and he busted out of there. He was running at full speed as far as I could tell. I looked at Tiffany, then Nick, both confused. "Go around." I followed him, running as fast as I could.

I followed him through a door that went to a long hallway that went all the way down the length of the building. I was about two yards behind him and catching up at a decent rate. He went through a door that went outside, to the back of the building. I'm sure Greg was watching and if he wasn't we were probably screwed.

I was running to follow him and I almost caught up to him when something came out of the alley I was passing and knocked me on the ground. It was a hard fall and my head was spinning. All I remembered after that was someone hovering over me before dragging me into the alley.

A few minutes passed and I was just barely conscious when a black van pulled in front of the opening out of the alley and another man came out and picked me up and put me in the back. A rag went over my face and everything went black.

**...**

_**I hope you would review and tell me what you like/dislike about the story. Any comments on things I should add and should disregard in later chapters are highly recommended. Being apart of the story is only a review away, Just a name, a description and a field of work in the lab/field and that can be arranged. Or even an idea for the story or any of its later cases. I appreciate the time you took to read this and I hope you have insight that you would kindly share with me. Enjoy!**_


	3. Watch Me Fall

**DISCLAIMER: I own none of CSI, only the case they are working, the people in it and my own characters.**

**...**

There wasn't much for me to see or hear. I could feel cheap fabric underneath me, grazing against my hair. My hands were tied in front of me, not the usual but I could deal. I was still dazed but I could see one beam of light, it looked like it was coming through the back window. There was a slight noise, it sounded kind of like country music.

I was in a big space, probably a cargo van, I can roll around all I want to. It's probably not in my best interest to fight off anyone that tried to come back here but I don't really want anyone around me that shouldn't be unless they're explaining what the hell is going on.

That was the decision I came to when someone made there was to the back of the van from the front seat. I was starting to freak out. I've never had a good time with drugs and I don't intend to try and start now. I'm more of a 'get-drunk-when-something-awful-happens'. When this is all over, this will be one of those days.

The guy wasn't afraid to let me see his face, but it didn't matter, I couldn't really make it out. He came over to me and lifted me up by the back of my neck. He squeezed a little harder than he needed to and started to talk. "What do you know?" His voice was deep and raspy, it was hard to make it out. I was pretty disoriented.

"What are you talking about?" He shook my head then threw me on the ground.

A gun was put at the base of my throat, his voice showing how angry he was. "Tell me what you know about Heinz and I won't shoot you now."

"Who the fuck is Heinz?" I pushed his gun away from my throat. The gun accidentally went off toward the back of the van. It pissed him off and he back handed my cheek with his gun.

"Bitch, don't lie to me! Tell me everything you know. How did you find Max?" I snorted at him.

"We got Max because he doesn't know how to wear a pair of gloves." I laughed again. "Let's make a deal." He grabbed my wrists this time and propped me up, pushing my back to the side of the van. He waited so I figured he wanted to hear what I had to say.

"I can only fantasize about you letting me go so I figure if you're going to kill me, you might as well tell me why. I gave you some information we found and now you tell me something I don't know." I know I don't know much about this case but if they took me up on this offer and told me the truth, I could piece it together enough to lie.

"Alright, I'll tell you that you aren't going to find Vinny's insides. Not all in one place anyways." He laughed, it was pretty nasty sounding. He may be a smoker, probably for most of his life.

It's a good thing I was one of the top math students in my graduating class. "Organ trade in the black market is pretty high in South Africa but we didn't find THAT much money, maybe enough for a heart, liver, pancreas, kidney and lungs is about enough in the Chinese black market."

"Where did you find that money?" He was pissed again.

"Hey, I just told you more than you asked for. You have to tell me where the rest of his insides went and why before you get any more out of me."

"You're a real treat, you know that?" He chuckled and smacked the back of the driver's seat. The van slowed down after a few turns and the engine was turned off. Another man came into the back of the van. I was really hoping that this wasn't going to be one of those rape-murder scenes we always get.

The other man started talking. He was the Asian of the two, probably the one who set up the whole thing. "Hello, Miss, I'm sorry for my friend here. He can be a real ass sometimes. I'm Heinz."

"That doesn't sound very Asian to me." I laughed at him. Probably not the best response to his name. My cheek was already stinging from before but he was pretty brutal. I could feel the black eye already forming on my left eye after that punch he just threw at my face.

"Now, are we going to say any more rude things to me?" He asked. He was keeping his cool when he talked.

"Truthfully, I'll still say and do what I please." I smiled at him slightly, more like a smirk actually.

"We're just going to have to fix that now, aren't we?" He chuckled back to me and moved to the driver seat. That was the last thing I remember as a rag went over my face again.

I woke up some time later, I'm not sure how much later, with my hands tied to a wood panel behind me. "What the hell is this?" I was standing on a do-it-yourself homemade pipe pedestal. It seemed like a lot of work but I've never dealt with organ harvesters before.

"This is my torture device. I had it specially made for this event. My worker didn't ask questions, doesn't know what it's for and got it done in less than two hours." It was Heinz again. I could really see him now. He wasn't as old as I thought he might be, maybe thirty-five or younger.

"A 'spur-of-the-moment' operation. I get it, kind of." I laughed. "Why the huge fuss? I don't really know much about what you're doing here anyways."

"You know enough." He sat down at a desk that was a couple meters in front of me. He was watching intently. "Here's what we're going to do. Since that idiot, Hall, left all of my money in the dead man's car, he's now a dead man and you will be too if I don't get it back." He pulled out a remote control and pressed a button.

The wooden beam behind me moved toward the ceiling before he let go of the button. "Every hour that I don't get my money, that beam moves up another inch. Every half hour that I don't get my money, I'm going to take this knife and gut you with shallow cuts." He stood up and walked over to me, taking the knife from his desk.

My vest was on the ground so there wasn't anything keeping this man away from me besides my shirt. He cut through that with one slice and I was pretty exposed, more than I ever liked to be. A quick cut right underneath the left side of my ribs and he was back in his seat, watching me.

"You have another thirty minutes, sweetheart. This little camera right here," he pointed to a camcorder sitting on his desk, "is connected to this laptop," he moved his finger to point at the laptop next to it, "and it's feeding live video to your Vegas crime lab."

"What? No audio to hear my cried for help?" I laughed at him.

"I will feed audio when you start to scream." He smiled at me. "For now though, I've let your lab know what I want and I told them the conditions I just told you. I also had one of my guys go into the lab and set up nice little bugs and cameras all around your lab so you know exactly what your friends are up to."

The computer on the other desk turned on and there were several video icons. "See these here?" He pointed to them. "Every time I see two people deep in conversation, I will click the icon and the video will go full screen onto that television over there," It was almost on the edge of the wall and ceiling, "and the audio will come up with it and we can hear how close they're getting to their conclusion." He smiled at me again and clicked on one of the icons.

It came up on the big screen. I watched as Archie, Nick, Grissom, Cat, Warrick and Sara all huddled around Archie's computer. The camera was placed just right so that I could see myself through his computer screen on the wall. "Nice touch." I laughed and he snickered to me.

"If you stay quiet, we might be able to hear what they say." He held his finger to his mouth, silently telling me to stop talking.

I looked back and the audio was just loud enough for me to hear them. Archie was talking first. "The feed is live. So as long as she's alive on the screen, she's alive in real time." I nodded. I saw it as soon as I nodded, so I knew there wasn't a delay in the feed.

"You like the camera placement?" I looked at Heinz, "I did it just for you." He smiled and I made my usual fake smile at him.

"You know, Grissom is a wonderful lip-reader." I was looking back at the television. "But I guess as long as I'm here I might as well talk to you, right 'sweetheart'?" I smiled at him again.

"There's a catch I didn't tell you about."

"What's that?" I didn't like where this was going.

"Every time you get snooty or sarcastic with me, I'm allowed to do whatever I please to you." He smiled and stood up. I could hear the echo in the room so I knew he turned the audio on. I knew Archie knew it too, he mentioned something that I didn't really get, it was something along the lines of 'audio static'.

"They don't know about it either," He grabbed his knife. "so I might as well tell them now." He walked over to me and laid his head on my stomach, looking at the first cut. "Every time you're precious C.S.I. gets bitchy with me, I will do whatever I please to her." He took his knife and placed it at the base of my neck, gliding it down -not cutting- my torso, between my boobs, across my ribs and down my stomach in front of his face.

"Let's just say, I mean anything." I could feel him smile on my face. I was watching the television, I wanted to know what the team was thinking, saying. Heinz licked my stomach, moving down.

"That is so fucking wrong." I shivered on instinct, not the good kind, but that ended pretty quickly because within a second a knife was stuck in between my two lower ribs. I could feel the air leave my body, a slight scream of pain before he removed it and wiped it off.

"Don't test me. Your organs will be out of your body in minutes if you keep it up." He walked back over to his seat and turned the audio off. "Now, which of your team do you want to follow around?" He turned his chair some, it was a spinning chair, and he turned his computer toward him. "The big black man, the spunky blonde girl, the old smart man, the get-it-done brunette gal or the country muscle?" He smiled to me. "You better pick because they're all leaving and I don't feel like switching between a million to catch them all."

"Country muscle." I laughed at him. "Where did you come up with those nicknames?"

I think I actually said something right because he made a genuine laugh. "Well, I've been thinking about it since the cameras went up. Now, if you were there and one of them was here instead, I think I'd call you the smart-ass red-head." He nodded, enjoying his nickname for me.

"I like it." I smirked and shrugged as best as I could. I watched the screen as Heinz pulled up the video of Nick. He was talking about what the money was for. He said the Chinese black market paid $500,000 for five different organs, but the rest of the insides, bones and muscle too, were found in a plastic bag about half a mile from where Vinny was found.

"Why did you take all of his insides?" I didn't get people sometimes.

"It was our way of making sure you didn't know which organs we sold." I nodded. The video switched. It seemed that Nick was getting his information, then making his way back to Archie. He was keeping tabs on me. "It looks like your friend likes you." He smiled again, it was sinister this time. "I bet he won't like this." The audio was back on. "Thirty minutes are up, sweetheart."

He walked over to me and made another cut, right beneath the one he did thirty minutes prior. He did it slower this time. It was excruciating. He was done in about ten seconds but it was the longest ten seconds I've ever felt.

It was too soon to beg and I wasn't one for giving up. "You're going to be sorry when this is all over." I gave him a half-smile, not a smirk but it was more heartfelt. I knew he wasn't after me specifically but the fact he had me here was what was going to get him killed.

"Is that a threat?" My smile went as fast as it came, my face fell. I knew from the way he asked that question that I crossed a line. The audio never got turned off so the team around the camera heard all of that.

He was pissed again. I don't really think people are scary but when they get pissed and come at you, it tends to get your heart racing. "I'm going to do something different this time." I felt hands on my back. It must have been the other guy. "This beam behind you is keeping you upright, but if you get pushed forward, I can let you fall as far as I want, basically like pulling the beam up but instead of it moving, you are." I knew where this was going. His next words were the start of never-ending pain.

"Go ahead and push." I felt a shove from behind me, my feet fall from the pipe,a pop of my shoulders removing themselves from the socket, a scream of pain and the man in front of me catch. I was sure it was my screams but all I could hear distinctly was the ringing in my ears. Then everything went black.

**...**

_**I hope you would review and tell me what you like/dislike about the story. Any comments on things I should add and should disregard in later chapters are highly recommended. Being apart of the story is only a review away, Just a name, a description and a field of work in the lab/field and that can be arranged. Or even an idea for the story or any of its later cases. I appreciate the time you took to read this and I hope you have insight that you would kindly share with me. Enjoy!**_


	4. One Hour

**DISCLAIMER: I own none of CSI, only the case they are working, the people in it and my own characters.**

**...**

I was rudely awakened thirty minutes later with a bucket of ice water to my face. The cold water was only needed one time to get me up. My hair was up when I passed out and now it was down, in my face and soaking wet.

"You know, a wet t-shirt doesn't count if half of my shirt is already off." I laughed, kind of groggy. I was pretty out of it and the pain I was still feeling was not helping. I looked over to the other monitor and I could tell the audio was back on.

"I was just making sure you were awake for your next treatment." He smiled and came up to me again. "Now, your shoulders are not going to be in that kind of pain for a while, so just enjoy it while you can." He took his remote and moved the wooden beam up another inch. It was still kind of painful but not as much as it would be later.

He moved his knife to me and made another cut beneath the other two. I sucked in breath, waiting for the pain to be over. That's three cuts, one stab and shoulders that got popped back into place later and I'm here, waiting for someone to come and find me.

I looked over at the screen and Archie, Nick and Catherine were huddled around Archie's computer. Catherine was holding her hand to her mouth, watching to see what was coming next. That was it for now, the audio was off and Heinz was talking to me again.

"You're being a good sport, you know that?" He smiled, crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair.

"I try." I snorted to him. "Where did you get the name Heinz anyways?"

"I may be Chinese but I was born here in the states. My father was a business man of the sorts."

"So, that's how you managed to get yourself into the black market?" I nodded my head up and down slightly, almost unsure of what my head was doing.

"It's how I managed to become the leader of it all." He seemed more than pleased with himself as he put his arms behind his head, still leaning in his chair. "I am the reason the trade is happening where it is right now and you got yourself in the middle of it."

"Is this why you have audio filters? So when you feel like telling me some lame wannabe bed-time story, I'm the only one who can hear you?"

"Of course! Did you really think I was just going to tell you and have them know everything?" He laughed. "Besides, if they know, how much fun would it be to watch what they come up with? None because they'll already know." He clicked on an icon and a video came up on the screen.

It was Grissom and Catherine. They were talking about how Maxwell got caught right after I was taken, talking nonsense about how he didn't do anything wrong. "He told Brass that he was just the hired leg man, they paid him a ton of money to drop the body off. He's saying very little but I think it's enough."

Nick walked into the shot then, making Heinz speak. "He is never going to give up is he?"

I laughed and nodded to him. "You fucking bet." I smiled at him as Nick started talking.

"I grabbed the notes Ariel took from the crime scene. She wrote that the witness said she didn't go near the body or the car but we found hairs in the car that puts her in the back seat. The notes also say that she was showing signs of drug abuse but the tox on her came back from the hospital and she was clean." Nick was flipping through his papers, going over everything.

I looked to Heinz and saw a pleased look on his face. "You're impressed, aren't you?" I asked him. I knew he didn't think anyone would figure it out, but my lab was one of the best.

I looked back to the video, Nick was still talking. "It also says that her name was Marissa but I saw the girl and her picture matches the DMV photo we got and it says her name is Rebecca Hall, Maxwell's daughter. We got him but we haven't been able to find her, she's in the wind now."

Grissom nodded and followed up with what he was saying. "The money is untraceable and the information we got from the interview with Maxwell tells us that the organs are already out of the country. We don't know how yet but we're looking into it."

Catherine was up next, "I followed up on Vinny and I found an interview he gave. This interview convicted an old mobster for selling and trading in the black market. He was a big part of it until he rolled over on one of his own to the cops. Later in the interview he also mentions a man named 'Heinz'."

I could see it in his face now, he was pissed. He turned to his other computer and turned the audio on. It wasn't another thirty minutes but they were getting close and it was making him upset. I could hear a faint yell from the other monitor, probably Archie saying that the audio was back on. I watched as they moved from one icon to another.

Heinz was ready for talking now. He moved his seat so he was facing the camera, not in the way of their view of me though. "Hello, C.S.I., here's the deal." He leaned forward a little, waiting for their response to be seen on the other screen. "I'll tell you the rest of the story at a cost. You have one hour after my story is over to either find me or bring my money to a specific location and if you don't make it, I get to kill her. Raise your hands if you think it's a deal you want to make."

I was shaking my head 'no' to them but I watched as they all looked at each other, wondering if what he was saying was true and how the hell did we see them. One by one, they raised their hands. Nick and Wendy were the only ones in the room who didn't raise their hands. "I need everyone in the room to raise their hands. Including the new tech girl who wasn't there before." I could see Heinz smile. Wendy looked scared and Nick nodded to her and they both raised their hands at the same time,

It was in that moment that I thought of something so incredibly stupid. Wendy and Tiffany would make some good friends to each other. They were both kind of nerdy, even if Tiffany never admitted it, and they had the same last name even though they had no relation to each other except for their connections to me. They were both good friends and I did enjoy their company.

"Good." Heinz started again, "Now, I assume the blonde, the old one and the country man have all informed you of their findings so I'll fill in the rest. Do you all remember about an hour ago when your lab girl here got pushed from behind?" He pointed to me, behind me rather, as a door opened. I couldn't see who it was though. "She is the girl you've all been waiting for."

I looked at him, confused and shocked. "Did you say she?"

Heinz looked to me and smiled. He turned back around and finished what he was saying. "My friend, Rebecca, has come a long way since her hooker days." I saw a black figure come up behind me, I tensed, and she grabbed my sides and smiled from behind me, sticking only her head out. It was the witness. How pathetic that I didn't catch that.

"Let my daddy know I miss him." She laughed and hugged me from behind. She was oddly friendly and I bet it wasn't because she wanted to have tea parties with me.

"Hush it, Rebecca." He turned to her for a split second and then looked back. "She's my pretty mistress. Hand picked by myself. Maxwell was just a lost cause so we gave him a fat check for his services. He was only our body dumper and my baby, here, was the body watch, to make sure nothing went wrong." She was playing with my sides with her fingers.

"He was very good at doing what he was told but he didn't like my gun at his head." She laughed, snuggling with my torso.

"You're being weird." She stopped what she was doing and I could see from the way she was looking at me and the way Heinz stopped talking that I made another mistake. "I was just kidding, please continue." I laughed as best I could under the circumstances.

"Good girl." Heinz turned back to continue what he was saying. "As I was saying, we didn't like the way Vinny sold one of ours out, so we let him know what we thought of him. As you can see, he is no longer around. I'm telling you this now because you're getting decently close to figuring it all out and it's no fun if you can waltz in whenever you please. You have one hour starting from the first cut we make."

I stopped watching the monitor that the icons were on, trying to see their faces was useless anyways, and looked over to Heinz who didn't turn the audio off. Instead, he just moved his chair back to where is was and faced me and Rebecca. I looked to her and he 'sweet' smile was no longer there.

She looked at Heinz like he was giving her the most pleasure she's ever endured and I knew that he wasn't going to be the one to come to me anymore. He was going to sit and watch the show. I felt the knife graze my skin, but not cutting. I heard the shirt get sliced the rest of the way off. The way things were turning out right now are not in my favor.

"One hour starts now. You can either find me or send ONE," He emphasized it. "C.S.I. to the storage space on Rainbow Boulevard." Heinz said. With an incision to the back of my ribs, I knew that was all he had to say.

I watched as the team scrambled to get their thoughts together, watching me, waiting to see if I was going to scream. They didn't look too thrilled to hear such a noise like the two around me but at least it was something to make them move a little faster.

I watched Heinz grab his remote and push a button. It was the wooden beam behind me again and I knew he was raising it to extreme heights this time. When he was done, the beam was behind me to a point that my arms made a ninety degree angle with the rest of my body. Just enough space for Rebecca to still stay behind me and slightly insert that knife into my back.

**...**

_**I hope you would review and tell me what you like/dislike about the story. Any comments on things I should add and should disregard in later chapters are highly recommended. Being apart of the story is only a review away, Just a name, a description and a field of work in the lab/field and that can be arranged. Or even an idea for the story or any of its later cases. I appreciate the time you took to read this and I hope you have insight that you would kindly share with me. Enjoy!**_


	5. Not Alone

**DISCLAIMER: I own none of CSI, only the case they are working, the people in it and my own characters.**

**...**

It was almost unbearable. The pain was ample and the screams were loud enough to echo off the walls. I could see everything around me. Heinz sitting in front of me, watching us and waiting for more. The knife making its way across my body, slicing my skin like nothing. My team on the monitor icons, scrambling to come together and figure out what to do.

Another stab, another scream. I wasn't going to make it to the hour mark. I think that's what they wanted though, just to bleed me enough now so that the job was easy when the time was ready. Besides, watching me suffer must have been pretty fun but I don't care for showing weakness through my actions. I stood there, taking it all.

"Heinz, I'm bored." Rebecca said. I could tell she was watching him, her silhouette was just inside my view to the far left of me. He was watching me, wanting more of a reaction I guess because he snapped his fingers and she squealed with joy. "I'm so excited!" She whispered to me next, "I've always wanted to play with a human pinata." She giggled and untied the rope that connected me to the wooden beam.

She pushed me down to the flat surface she was on and looked at me. "You're really short." I think I made the wrong face because she back-handed my cheek. "Think about how that felt the next time you look at me that way."

I laughed, "You're a real treat, you know that?" I took my hand from my cheek, it was still stinging but I can deal. She gave me the look of pure disgust and I don't think I could have been more prouder with myself. I smirked at her and that made Heinz make a noise. I looked over to him for just a second before something metal made contact with my lower back.

I fell to my knees, almost wishing that one hit had been enough to kill me. That was the worst yet but I wasn't going to let that get the best of me. Another hit to the shoulder blades and I was laying stomach down on the ground. If I tried to get up, she'd hit me. If I laughed, shed' hit me. I was just happy that I was trained in a lot of martial arts and Heinz was stupid enough to put a camera in the lab to where I can see myself.

I waited for the right moment, Rebecca was having tons of fun and Heinz was just having fun watching her. I looked at her through the monitor, it was small since it was still an icon and not a video but I was able to see the big screen in Archie's lab pretty easily considering the size. I watched for it.

I saw her move only slightly and I glanced at Heinz. He was watching me now, he knew, I knew he knew. I saw it in his eyes. He was confused but as soon as I looked back to the video, he yelled to her. "Stop, Rebecca, don't swing!" I heard the chair fly back like he was standing up at the speed of lightning but it was too late, she was already mid-swing and she was going full force.

I was lucky if all I did was break my wrist in the process but it would have to do. The adrenaline would be enough to mask the pain for now. I twisted my body at full speed, hoping to catch the bat before it hit. I did and believe me when I say I wish I had time for a sigh of relief but the look in her eyes said otherwise. I had to act on instinct, not just pure thought.

I grabbed the bat and twisted it from her grip, watching as it pulled her forward only slightly. She leaned in just enough for me to take the bat and push the handle upward toward her jaw, pushing her backwards. She only stumbled and I was up on my feet in an instant.

"You stupid bitch." She was holding her face, I could tell I hurt her some but I didn't really care as long as I didn't kill her otherwise we'd have an issue.

"You're only half right." I laughed. I played some baseball back in high school, the only girl on the team, so I knew how to handle a bat and how to swing one pretty decently. "I'm sorry but you really can't be awake for this." I flipped the bat around, using some skills I learned through the years of twirling, and I grabbed the handle and swung.

I didn't wait to watch her hit the ground. It wasn't full force but it was enough to break my wrist even more. The blood she spit from her mouth because of the impact was unintentional, I just needed her down. I could feel my luck was about to change, I heard footsteps outside the room. Heinz obviously heard them too because he grabbed the gun from his side and shot.

I don't really know what happened next. I don't know if he shot me, himself or the light but I do remember the place going dark. I could hear sounds, soft thuds, probably on the doors and in the halls. I heard shouts and gun shots. Everything was still dark so I couldn't tell you the details of the room anymore, I couldn't tell you where every one was standing, I couldn't even tell you who was shooting and who was screaming.

Then it all stopped. No more shots, no more screams, no more noise. It was like I was sitting in a room of silence, waiting for the door to open and light to pour in but it didn't. Nothing happened after that. I was just there, alone, thinking to myself about everything that I could have done differently.

I could have just scared the girl and she wouldn't have come near me. I could have went for Heinz instead. I could have screamed more just for their satisfaction, maybe I would have lasted longer. I could have tried to get out of the van from earlier instead of trying to make deals. I could have just caught up to Maxwell or I could have let Nick come with me in the first place instead of going ahead. I could have just let Catherine take the case.

But why would I want that? I don't want any of that. I don't need to be guilty for letting someone else get hurt, I just need to be guilty for letting myself get into this stupid mess.

I was just thinking to myself, no trouble for anyone. Then the light came back. I didn't see anything but the light. Maybe I was dead, who knows. I doubt it though because as slowly as the light came, so did the noises.

The shouting was back but it was different this time. They weren't shouts of fiery passion to do good, they were screams of plea to make sure everything was okay. I didn't know who it was but I heard them. They were male. That was all I got.

It went dark again, the noises faded and I don't know how long I was sitting in the darkness before it all went clear again.

I could feel myself open my eyes in a room of white. Not the heaven kind of white where it's supposed to be pure light and luminescent, it was the hospital white. Tiled floors, blue tinted curtains, monitors that were supposed to be helpful but without any doctor knowledge you probably wouldn't know what any of it means.

I was alone.

How upsetting right? How am I going to be left alone. I could only feel the pain in my body. The wraps around my skin. I was awake now. Other than the places that were wrapped, I felt fine. Maybe it was some kind of drugs they had me on but I wasn't in the mood to lay here and wait. I saw my clothes on the table beside me so I did what any irrational person would do.

I unplugged everything and started to get up, reaching for my clothes. It was pure tunnel-vision because out of no where, I felt a hand at the base of my neck, gently pushing me back. "Lay back down." It was a soft voice, caring.

I was still looking at my clothes when I settled back down. I looked at the hand that was touching me but as soon as I looked, they pulled away. The drugs must have gotten to me because my actions were going much slower than they normally would. My head tilted up to where the hand lead and it was Nick. He smiled softly.

"You really should let a nurse put everything back." I nodded slightly, slowly. He gestured for a nurse to come over and fix the plugs and wires that I messed up. I waited for her to leave and I looked back to Nick and he handed me a candy bar.

It was one of those Reese's things that they made into a bar instead of a circle. I took it, he knows exactly what I need to feel better and this was my favorite candy. I scrunched my face at him. He laughed, knowing that I probably didn't feel like talking and that was my thank you face.

"I'm sorry I was gone when you woke up, I was grabbing that. The nurse said it wouldn't be much longer before you were awake considering how much you were moving. The others had to wrap their cases up but they'll be back before the night is up." He smiled at me and I smiled back as best as I could. My face hurt pretty bad and I think he saw that. His smile left a little and seeing him look like that made mine disappear completely.

I set the candy on my lap and held out my hand. I only had one fractured wrist, which was much better than I thought it was. I looked up at him and started to talk. "I assume that everything was photographed." He nodded. "I want to see it."

"I don't think that's a good idea." He seemed a little on edge to show me. I grabbed the candy and shoved it into his chest. He got the hint that if he didn't show me that I didn't want him around and placed it back in my lap, grabbing for his camera. He handed it over and I went through all of the pictures.

They were awful. I don't think it's something that I should have lasted through for as long as I did, let alone lived through. I gave him the camera back, "Thank you. That wasn't so hard was it?" I snickered to him. He just shook his head at me and hugged me. It hurt a lot but it was a nice kind of hurt because I know I needed this and he probably did too. He's been through some pretty tough things in his own life and he knows how I feel on a different level.

"I'm happy you're okay."

"Shut up, Nicki. You knew you'd find me." I squeezed him a little and he sat back down as the others walked in, one by one. They talked about how happy they were to see me and how after I get out they'd all pitch in five dollars to get me drunk off my ass to forget this whole thing.

It was nice to know that even though they weren't here, I wasn't really alone. I needed that a lot more than I'd ever tell anyone. Even Wendy, Hodges and Archie came out to see me. After a while everyone but Wendy, Hodges and Nick left.

Wendy walked back in after going to see the nurse, "Good news! She said we can get you out of here first thing in the morning so take a rest for the night and we will be getting drunk after our shift tonight." She smiled and I laughed at her.

She was so excited to finally get out of the lab and do something after work. Her and Hodges left, leaving only me and Nick behind. "Okay, LiLi, I have to get back to the lab but I'll come by every chance I get until morning." He smiled and leaned forward to hug me. He kissed my forehead and made his way out of the room.

**...**

_**I hope you would review and tell me what you like/dislike about the story. Any comments on things I should add and should disregard in later chapters are highly recommended. Being apart of the story is only a review away, Just a name, a description and a field of work in the lab/field and that can be arranged. Or even an idea for the story or any of its later cases. I appreciate the time you took to read this and I hope you have insight that you would kindly share with me. Enjoy!**_


End file.
